Namibia | South African History Online South African History Online View full archive Namibia, a former German colony, is situated towards the north west of South Africa. The Orange River marks the border between the two countries. The country is about 800 000 square kilometers big and borders on Angola to the north and Botswana in the east. The Caprivi Strip, which stretches off its northern edge, extends between Botswana and Zambia. The first European that landed in Namibia was the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão, who came ashore north of Swakopmund at Cape Cross in 1484. Parts of Namibia are notoriously dry and much of the country is made up of the Namib Desert and the Kalahari. Towards the north the country becomes greener with the Etosha Pan filling with water from northern rivers. This area is rich in diverse wildlife. The Skeleton Coast marks the area where the Namib meets the Atlantic Ocean and is littered with wrecks of ships that ran ashore in the treacherous waters, whalebone shelters used by the San and ghost towns that boomed during the early diamond days. Due to its harsh environment Namibia is sparsely populated with various different groups.

Its population is made up of San, Damaras, Ovambos, Namas, Hereros, Oorlams, Kavangos, East Caprivians, Rehoboth Basters, Kaokovelders, Tswanas and European settlers, mostly German. The country is rich in natural resources and its main mineral products are copper, diamonds, gold, lead and uranium. The South African and Portuguese governments jointly developed the Kunene hydroelectric scheme in 1969. Fishing is also a prominent industry in Namibia, but exploitation of the rich marine resources led to the near extinction of pilchards and anchovies in the 1960s and 70s. Strict controls were put in place and the numbers of fish have steadily increased since then. In 1885 the Chancellor of the German Empire, Bismarck, held a convention in Berlin where European powers divided Africa among themselves. This was called the “Scramble for Africa”. In 1886 the border between Angola and what would become German South West Africa was negotiated between the German and Portuguese nations.

In 1890 the first German military fort was built at Windhoek and, in July of the same year, the British government also apportioned the Caprivi Strip to the Germans. This would give Germany access to the Zambezi River and its other East African territories, and it would give up its claims on Zanzibar. The reason Germany selected Namibia as its “protectorate” was influenced by the fact that a tobacco merchant from Bremen, Franz Luderitz, bought up coastal land in the area in 1882. This resulted in Germany actively establishing itself in the African country by 1884. They occupied Herero lands. Initially the Herero accepted the “treaties of protection”, but the Nama people resisted. In 1888 the Germans confiscated Herero lands and large numbers of their cattle. The aim was to turn South West Africa into a settler colony. In 1890 German soldiers attacked the Nama and by 1892, despite efforts by the Nama and Herero to put up a united front, they were crushed.

By the beginning of the twentieth century African resistance become the central theme under local leaders. German forces were still occupied in crushing the 1903 Bondelswarts Uprising and were hard pressed when the Herero rose in revolt in 1904. Once reinforcements arrived with superior guns German troops defeated them. The new German commander-in-chief, General Lothar von Trotha, ordered the extermination of all Herero people. Pursued by German troops they fled into the desert, into northern Ovamboland and into eastern Bechuanaland, or Botswana. While the German troops were destroying the Herero, the Portuguese launched a new offensive against the northern Ovambo. In 1905 the Nama, who responded a band of guerrilla fighters. After a year of fierce fighting, Witbooi was killed in action but Jacob Marengo continued to lead the Nama resistance for a further two years. In 1907, the death of Marengo brought about the end of the war of resistance. Many of the surviving Nama and Herero were imprisoned or sent to labour camps. All the remaining Herero lands were confiscated and they were forbidden to keep cattle.

Thereafter German policy altered to one of forcing the survivors into the workforce in order to develop the colony. When the First World War broke out in 1914 South Africa agreed to participate in an assault on German South West Africa. Some Afrikaner Nationalists in South Africa opposed this. Led by Generals J B M Hertzog and C R de Wet they were against South African participation in the war against Germany and any attack on South West Africa, which they viewed as the colonial territory of a friendly power. The Union Government, however, had military necessity and economic reasons to incorporate the territory into the Union after the war. These conflicting motives and ideals led to the South African Rebellion. With the suppression of the rebellion General Louis Botha launched South Africa's troops upon the conquest of the German colony and the British navy captured Luderitz Bay in September 1914, cutting off German supplies. South African occupation started in May 1915 when General Louis Botha, first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, ordered 40 000 South African troops into the territory. Heavily outnumbered, the German forces were forced into retreat.

The colony surrendered on 9 July 1915, bringing 31 years of German rule to an end. General J C Smuts , a member of the British War Cabinet, put forward the idea of a League of Nations Mandate system for Germany's conquered colonial possessions. He did not intend this to apply to Germany's African colonies because he hoped to see South West Africa incorporated into South Africa. He was unable to persuade the Peace Conference to approve this and in 1920 he and General Louis Botha very reluctantly agreed that South Africa should administer South West Africa under a Class C Mandate from the League of Nations. The mandate purported to safeguard the rights and interests of the indigenous people. It was also obliged to submit annual reports to the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commission. The hopes of the inhabitants of South West Africa for redress of grievances when the Union Government took over the territory were soon dashed. During the period 1922 to 1946 the indigenous peoples were allocated from 10,6% to as little as 3,6% of the budget. Even though about 6000 Germans left the country, grazing lands sequestrated by the German colonial government were not restored.

Instead, pastoral chiefdoms and communities were dispossessed and almost half the territory was allocated to some 3 000 White settler ranches that were heavily subsidised. Some of these were given to about three hundred Afrikaners, descendants of Voortrekkers who had previously settled in Angola. Until 1948 the highest authority in the territory was the Administrator of the territory, appointed by the South African Government. Only White settlers were allowed to vote for the Legislative Assembly and local authorities. A resident commissioner and magistrates administered the local inhabitants, issuing directives to chiefs and headmen. Four native commissioners exercised authority in Ovamboland. Black chiefs were treated as government agents who could be replaced or dismissed. Ovamboland was looked on as a labour reserve and very little development was undertaken there. The greater part of the territory outside Ovamboland included White settlements and the mines. The Herero and Nama communities within this zone were allocated reserves. Expenditure on development of the reserves was curtailed in order to pressure the local people into seeking employment on White farms. This would develop contract labour and establish a migrant labour system similar to that of South Africa.

One incident in particular served to draw international criticism to South Africa. In 1921 the Union administration became involved in the suppression of the Bondelswarts, who, although living on the borderlines of poverty, managed to retain their economic independence by hunting, using dogs. To break this activity the tax on dogs was levied. In addition, their leader, Jacobus Christian, was arrested without proper cause. In May 1922 the popular hero Abraham Morris, who had led the Bondelswarts resistance to the Germans in 1903, decided to come home with some armed refugees who had fled to the Union for sanctuary during the German occupation. Morris had served as a guide to the South African invasion forces, and had been given a gun in recognition of his services. The Bondelswarts were ordered to hand him over. Violence broke out when Morris' followers refused to surrender their guns. Although Morris agreed to hand over the guns, a fortnight later the new Administrator-General of South West Africa, G R Hofmeyr, and the Bondelswarts leader, Christian, failed to agree. Hofmeyr ordered a punitive expedition.

Smuts tried to restrain Hofmeyr, but failed, and the South African army with bomber support attacked the community, killing some women and children. With this, the Bondelswarts men openly rebelled, but they were soon completely crushed. Thereafter, and throughout the period that led to Second World War, South Africa was subjected to regular criticism by the United Nations Permanent Mandate Commission. The United Nations (UN) was formed in 1944 and soon afterwards began trying to persuade South Africa to submit the mandate to United Nations trusteeship. Smuts made a determined effort to incorporate South West Africa into the Union of South Africa after the war. In May 1946 the White Legislative Assembly of the territory called for South West Africa's incorporation in South Africa and chiefs and headmen were also persuaded to petition for transfer of the territory to the Union. The South African proposal was opposed by the UN General Assembly, with India, already at loggerheads with South Africa over the treatment of South African Indians, leading the attack. The liberal English clergyman, Reverend Michael Scott, and Dr Xuma , president of the African National Congress (ANC) , provided evidence against South Africa on the grounds of racial discrimination.

They had also received reports from the Herero and others that indicated that the local chiefs had misunderstood the petition and that many of them were, in fact, against incorporation in South Africa. Smuts refused to accept that the UN was the legitimate successor to the defunct League of Nations by refusing to register South West Africa as a UN Trusteeship Territory. Dr D F Malan used Smuts' difficulties with the UN over South West Africa as a tool in his election campaign before 1948. The National Party (NP) intended to incorporate the territory into South Africa unilaterally, and to apply its racial policies in spite of world opinion. After the NP won the South African election of 1948 the new government refused to submit further reports on South West Africa to the UN because the mandate over South West Africa had lapsed, but they stopped short of open defiance of UN authority. In 1949, without incorporating the territory, the Nationalists ingeniously increased their majority in the South African Parliament by creating six new seats for the White population of South West Africa in the Lower House and four in the Senate. In this way it brought about effective rule over South West Africa as a fifth province, without UN recognition.

The UN challenged South Africa's actions in the International Court of Justice. The next year the Court of Justice gave an advisory opinion that South Africa's mandate to administer the territory should remain in force, but that as the UN was the League of Nations' successor, South Africa must still report to it. South Africa rejected the court's ruling and in 1954. South West African “Native Affairs” were placed under the direct control of Pretoria. Although it had withdrawn from the Trusteeship Committee, South Africa was persuaded to rejoin in 1957 for negotiations with Charles Arden-Clarke, the UN negotiator. When these failed, the period of resolutions condemning South Africa's policies began. In 1959 riots broke out in Windhoek over the extension of urban apartheid to South West Africa, and the forced removal and resettlement of people from locations near Windhoek to one remote from the city. In November of that year the UN Assembly noted that South Africa was administering the territory in a manner contrary to the mandate, the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice, and earlier resolutions of the UN Assembly itself.

The Trusteeship Committee required that South Africa revoke all apartheid laws that applied in South West Africa and it appointed a seven-nation committee to investigate conditions. In 1960 Liberia and Ethiopia applied to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the World Court, for binding judgment against South Africa. The South African government invited the chairman and secretary of the seven-nation committee, Victorio Carpio of the Philippines and Dr Martinez de Alva of Mexico respectively, to visit the territory. They arrived in 1962 and while they were in South Africa they issued a report favourable to it. After leaving the country they brought out another report affirming that apartheid was being rigorously enforced in South West Africa and stating that South Africa did not intend to abandon its policies, and was not preparing the people of South West Africa for independence. Carpio repudiated the first report. At the time, Carpio and De Alva lost credibility, not only because the two reports seemed contradictory, but also because the South West African case was sub judice at The Hague. However, with the publication of the Odendaal Report in 1964, the substance of the second report was proved correct.

In 1962 the World Court decided that it had the power to judge the case and it rejected the South African argument that the plaintiffs, Ethiopia and Liberia, had no standing. The plaintiffs argued that the franchise in South West Africa was restricted to Whites. They said that inadequate educational facilities were provided and that the inhabitants had to use travel passes. They observed that political party and trade union membership had been banned, that the inhabitants were kept racially segregated, that certain jobs were reserved for Whites, that Blacks were excluded from the right to own landed property over large areas of the territory and that the administrator of the territory could force deportation of individuals without right of appeal. The case dragged on for six years, during which time one judge died and a successor with different views was appointed who rejected the legal standing of Ethiopia and Liberia. South Africa narrowly won the case by eight votes to seven. This strengthened the determination of members of the UN General Assembly to end South Africa's mandate over the territory and to place it under UN control. Rising political consciousness in South West Africa resulted in the formation of Black political parties. The South West African National Union (SWANU) was founded in 1962 and was active in central South West Africa for a time.

Other small parties developed in the south. Toivo ya Toivo and Sam Nujoma transformed the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) into the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1960 and began training a guerrilla army. SWAPO gained the sympathy of the Black African states and through them the UN, resulting in the resolution of the UN Security Council that banned the sale of arms to South Africa. During 1966 SWAPO’s first military action took place in Ovamboland. Two years later SWAPO members were convicted in the Pretoria terrorism trial and their leader, Toivo ya Toivo, was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. This changed South Africa's political approach to a policy of separate development. In 1964 the Report of the Commission of Enquiry, which had been prepared in close collaboration with Dr H F Verwoerd , recommended that South West Africa be partitioned. The 1968 the Development of Self-Government for Native Nations in South West Africa Act laid the foundations for homelands.

As in South Africa bantustans, later known as homelands, were defined for the various Black, Khoi, San and Damara communities. More than 50% of the land was to be reserved as a homeland for the White minority. This included most of the territory's mineral wealth and agricultural potential, and was ultimately to be absorbed into South Africa. This scheme was furthered when the South West Africa Affairs Act of 1969 transferred many powers from the Territorial Assembly in Namibia to the South African Assembly. Lack of Black support in Namibia for these plans, especially in SWAPO-supporting territory, was demonstrated in 1973 by the very small poll in the elections for Ovamboland's so-called ‘self-government'. In 1967 the UN Council for South West Africa was established, and subsequently renamed the Council for Namibia. Prodded by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) international pressure mounted against South Africa. The UN again tried unsuccessfully to take over the administration of the territory in 1967, and two years later passed a resolution that South Africa should terminate its administration over South West Africa.

South Africa ignored this and took the administration of the territory under direct rule in 1969. Although the UN Security Council endorsed the termination of South Africa's mandate with a declaration that South Africa was an illegal occupier of Namibia (Resolution 276), and although it requested sanctions against South Africa (Resolution 283), it was unable to do anything about it. It therefore asked the World Court for an advisory opinion on the consequences of South Africa's occupation. In 1971 the World Court advised that South Africa's presence in South West Africa was unlawful. South Africa held that it was not bound by the advisory opinion of the World Court. A visit to South Africa and Namibia in March 1971 by, the Secretary General of the UN, Dr Kurt Waldheim, ended in a deadlock with Prime Minister Vorster . Further attempts to negotiate a solution to the dispute failed. To pursue their policy of partitioning the territory into a series of ‘independent' ethnic states the South African Parliament passed the ‘Development of Self-Government for Native Nations in South West Africa Amendment Act' in 1973. This provided for ‘self-government' in Ovamboland and East Caprivi.

The UN responded by recognising SWAPO as the only lawful representative of the population of Namibia. During the next two years South Africa deployed a large police and military force to the territory to protect White farmers in outlying areas from terrorist attacks, and to protect Blacks who had not joined SWAPO from intimidation. South Africa persisted in extending apartheid to Namibia in the face of all international opposition. With the collapse of Portuguese rule in Mozambique South Africa's position was weakened on its eastern borders because Mozambique was taken over by the Marxist-oriented Frelimo regime. UN pressure increased. The Security Council threatened South Africa with expulsion if it did not recognise the territorial and national integrity of Namibia by withdrawing South African administration. While seeking to protect White interests, security and law and order, South Africa attempted to placate international criticism in an attempt to prevent a communist-backed SWAPO government from coming to power in Namibia. It changed its policy of partition and sought to establish a federation of Black states in Namibia. The South African government hoped this would meet UN demands for the preservation of the national integrity of Namibians, while allowing Whites to retain control over the greater part of its resources.

To bring this plan to fruition representatives of the various ethnic regions met at the Windhoek Turnhalle in September 1975 to work out a federal constitution based on ethnic states. Some of the social aspects of apartheid were abandoned. SWAPO and the UN rejected it. In 1976 the South African Government stalled on giving Namibia unilateral independence because the Zimbabwe election, where Robert Mugabe's radical ZANU party won a resounding victory, had alerted South Africa to the likelihood of SWAPO sweeping to victory in Namibia. Mutual differences led to the collapse of the settlement attempt and arrangements for the elections were delayed under a variety of pretexts. The prolonged stalemate led to the establishment of an interim government, but the South African Government held back on pushing the territory into unilateral independence, maintaining it would allow UN-sponsored elections once agreement could be reached on the details. In the meantime SWAPO stepped up its guerrilla activity and its political support in Namibia expanded. By 1981 a drastic economic downturn had occurred in Namibia. A general world depression had affected the prices of Namibia's chief exports, diamonds, karakul, copper, and uranium.

Drought and terrorism had crippled cattle ranchers, and the fishing industry was at low ebb, due to over-fishing during the 1970s. Whites began leaving Namibia in increasing numbers. South Africa, equally hard-pressed, was finding Namibia less profitable and its Namibian subsidies and defence of that country were heavy burdens. Friction developed between the Administrator-General of the Territory appointed by the South African Government and ministers of the interim government, which collapsed in 1983 with the resignation of Chairman, Mr Dirk Mudge and the Council of Ministers. Direct South African rule through the Administrator-General was re-imposed. South African troops repeatedly attacked SWAPO bases in Angola and openly supported Jonas Savimbi's guerrilla struggle against the Angolan MPLA, causing the MPLA to call for more support from the Cuban troops. By 1983 as many as 20 000 South African soldiers were stationed in Namibia to combat SWAPO's guerrilla forces. Cross-border raids continued until a massive invasion by South African forces into Angola saw South Africans occupying wide areas of the southern part of the country. Both sides gained breathing space when an agreement was reached in Lusaka.

The MPLA Government agreed that South African troops would withdraw from Angola and stop supporting UNITA, while the Angolan authorities would prevent SWAPO establishing bases on their territory. The Angolan authorities were unable to eliminate the SWAPO bases and South Africa did not complete its withdrawal. During the Carter regime relations between the United States of America (USA) and South Africa deteriorated. The Reagan administration supported South Africa in its insistence that Cuba withdraw as a precondition for any settlement that would permit UN-sponsored elections in Namibia. In 1985 a new grouping of anti-SWAPO parties was formed and the idea of a Multiparty Conference (MPC) to form a transitional government was put forward. There was still no sign of a withdrawal of South African troops from the territory for fear that a SWAPO-dominated government, backed by Communists would be installed. In 1987 and 1988 South Africa increased the number of troops sent to the border and stepped up attacks against SWAPO fighters in Angola. At the end of the decade, Namibia's future remained unresolved.

A Joint Commission, instituted in 1988 supervised the implementation of UN Resolution 435 for the independence of Namibia and monitored Namibian/Angolan peace initiatives. Independence was achieved after negotiations were conducted between South Africa, Western powers, the UN and the South West African Peoples' Organization (SWAPO). The settlement was signed in New York in December 1988. The New York agreement led in turn to the Namibian independence election in which democratic principles had been inserted into the independence process by the Western powers. SWAPO won 57% of the votes, but as this was not an absolute majority, other parties also took part in the drafting of the constitution. It contained, in the words of Professor Gerhard Erasmus of Stellenbosch University, “a remarkable set of finely tuned checks and balances on the exercise of power”. Six parliamentary opposition parties were supported by 43% of the electorate. In 1991 national reconciliation was still the watchword, capital was still largely White-controlled, and the fishing and uranium industries had taken a downturn. South Africa cut its subsidies and totted up a bill of R700-million, which it said Namibia must pay.

At that stage it was still withholding Walvis Bay, Namibia's trade lifeline, but, by 1994, the city had been returned to Namibia. By then South Africa, led by Nelson Mandela 's Government of National Unity, and the SWAPO Government had embarked on a policy of national reconciliation. SWAPO, having adopted a policy of caution concerning economic and social reform, was proving Namibia to be one of the most democratic states in Africa. References: Germany's 'other genocide' in Namibia - The Local Germany's 'other genocide' in Namibia The Local Protests in 2014 about the recognition of the Herero genocide. Photo: DPA The Local 28 April 2015 15:05 CEST+02:00 Between 1904 and 1907 German colonial rulers in Namibia attempted to exterminate a whole section of the native population, in another horrific chapter of history campaigners are calling on the country to face up to.

After a debate in the Bundestag (German parliament) last week on whether to officially describe the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 on as genocide, an old debate on Germany's recognition of the Herero genocide has resurfaced. The attempted "extermination of the Herero nation" in Namibia in 1904-7 under German colonial rule is largely ignored by Germans, to the extent where David Olusoga, who co-wrote a book about the events, described what took place in Namibia as “Germany’s forgotten genocide”. The organization "No Amnesty on Genocide" is campaigning for the German government to recognize it as genocide, as well as symbolic and material reparations. Despite previous attempts to deal with the horrific crimes, 111 years on the German government position on the matter remains murky. Israel Kaunatjike is an activist, born in Namibia, who has been living in Berlin since 1970. Together with other campaigners, he submitted a petition to the Foreign Ministry at the end of March asking for an official apology, reparations for stolen land and expulsions, and to recognize the atrocities as genocide.

He told The Local that, despite having received no response yet, he is "hopeful and confident" that after senior figures like President Joachim Gauck described the Armenian atrocities as genocide, Germany will finally stop hiding from those committed in Namibia. "The relations between the two countries are very healthy without any conflicts, but only politicians are making things difficult," he said. "What is most important is how we can move forward now. Our main wish is to receive an apology, so people can move on. Things like reparations are only secondary in the matter," he continued. 20th century's first genocide Namibia, then known as South-West Africa, became a German colony in 1884 under the rule of Otto von Bismarck and was lost to the British during the First World War. In 1904 the Herero and Nama people launched a rebellion against German colonial rule, over the specific issue of land rights. After around 150 Germans were killed in the uprising, Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha was appointed Supreme Commander of South-West Africa and landed with 14,000 reinforcement troops. The fighting had subsided and the Herero and Nama people were ready to start negotiations.

But to von Trotha, the idea of negotiating went against German and Prussian honour and military tradition. He was determined to crush the rebellion fully. After the Germans had defeated the Herero combatants at the Battle of Waterberg in August 1904, any survivors were either brutally slaughtered or driven into the Kalahari Desert. Von Trotha then built a 200 mile fence to seal off the desert and leave the Herero and Nama to die of thirst and starvation. German attitudes at the time foreshadow those used by the Nazis to justify their ambitions for territorial expansion and the Holocaust, such as the crusade for so-called 'Lebensraum' - or living space. Young soldier Franz von Epp wrote in a letter home: "This world is being redistributed. With time we will inevitably need more space and only by the sword will we be able to get it". Later on in his career, Epp became a senior Nazi and was appointed Reichskomissar for Bavaria. European colonial rule during the period was replete with bloodshed and brutality, but what von Trotha did was unprecedented. He articulated and put to paper his intention to annihilate the Herero people.

In a proclamation to his troops, Trotha clearly outlined the definition of genocide: "Any Herero found inside the German frontier, with or without a gun or cattle, will be executed. I shall spare neither women nor children. I shall give the order to drive them away and fire on them." "I believe that the nation as such should be annihilated, or, if this was not possible by tactical measures, should be expelled from the country." When news of the atrocities reached Germany there was national outcry, but Kaiser Willhelm I refused to withdraw the Vernichtungsbefehl (extermination order). Only after two more months of hunting down and slaughtering them did von Trotha receive orders to accept the surrender of the Herero people. Any survivors, most of them women and children, were herded into concentration camps for slave labour and medical experiments. The genocide cost the lives of an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 people, or 80 percent of the Herero population. Recognizing atrocities The Whittaker Report of 1985 officially classified the crimes as the first genocide of the 20th century, but Germany has avoided being so clear on the matter.

In 2004 came a turning point when then-Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul visited Namibia to mark the 100-year anniversary. "Today, I want to acknowledge the violence inflicted by the German colonial powers on your ancestors, particularly the Herero and the Nama," she said. "The atrocities committed at that time would today be termed as genocide," she continued. But since then, there has been no further movement from the German government. Only in 2011 were skulls of Herero people that had been taken back to Germany after the genocide for medical research returned to Namibia. The Foreign Ministry gave a statement to Süddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday, mentioning "Germany's particular historical responsibility", and stressing the importance of finding a "worthy culture of commemoration and remembrance of the horrors", but the issue of acknowledging it as genocide was not addressed. "The undesirable title of the country to commit the first genocide of the 20th century belongs to Germany," said Green party leader Cem Özdemir on Friday in the Bundestag, referring to the crimes against the Herero and Nama people.

Whether the Namibian question will receive the same level of scrutiny as the Armenian one, when Germany bears such an undeniable responsibility in the crimes committed over 100 years ago, remains to be seen. Herero Tribe of Namibia and Botswana | African Tribal People Herero Tribe: Tribal People of Namibia. Location: Namibia , Botswana in Africa. The Herero is actually a term like "Nguni" - a group of tribes. The various tribes forming the Herero group and speaking a common language are the Himba (also known as the Ovahimba) , Herero, Tijimba and Mbanderu. Currently there are about 107,000 Herero living in Namibia, southern Angola and Botswana . Unfortunately little is known of their origin. It is believed that they were descendants of the large groups of people, who migrated southward from Central Africa during the 16th century. Their traditions clearly show that their origins stem from the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. And most probably they separated from the main group and entered present-day Namibia from the North-east. At this stage they divided into two groups.

The one crossed the Okavango River and entered the Gobabis area, east of Windhoek and became know as the Mbanderu (or Eastern Herero). The other group crossed the Kunene River and settling in the Kaokoveld in the rocky dry north-western part of Namibia and became known as the Tijimba and Himba. During the 18th century about 1750, a group of the Kaokoveld population migrated southwards to central Namibia and met up again with the Mbanderu. These people eventually settled throughout the Kalahari Desert and became known as the Herero. Until the arrival of the early European settlers the Hereros were semi-nomadic pastoralists, profiting from the relatively rich grassland. However, they started clashing from 1830 onwards, with the northward moving Nama who together with the Orlam clan, the Afrikaners, drove the Herero from their southernmost settlement in the area where Windhoek is today. In 1842 some Herero chiefs joined forces with the Namas to organise a united resistance against the Orlam.

The chiefs were convinced that this would help them in their battles with other Herero chiefs over land and live stock. The most prominent of these chiefs to be in collaboration with the Namas was Chief Tjamuaha. By the mid-19th century, European explorers, traders, and missionaries began to move into central and southern Namibia. During the 1884 Berlin Conference had awarded Namibia (then known as) South West Africa to the Germans with the rest of the continent going to the other European powers. The Germans established their presence on the coast of modern Namibia and soon moved inland as they began to consolidate their occupation of the area. They created individual "protection treaties" with the local cultural groups. This opened the door for German dominance as many local groups traded their sovereignty for German military support against their rivals. Chief Maherero, too, signed a treaty with the Germans…without consulting the other Herero chiefs. He thought this would strengthen his power, but it weakened his standing among the other Herero and led to more and more German settlers moving into Hereroland. Maherero was forced to break the treaty, but by this time the Germans had firmly entrenched themselves in their new colony.

Unable to resist both the Nama and Germans, Maherero signed another treaty with the Germans shortly before his death in 1890. In the ensuing power struggle, Samuel, Maherero's son (who was backed by the Germans) rose to power. This caused a deep rift within the Herero, as the others would have preferred someone with fewer ties to their German neighbours. This, combined with increasing theft of land and cattle by the Germans led to a short-lived alliance between the remaining Herero and the Nama in 1892. Short-lived because the German military soon crushed the meagre resistance posed by the two peoples. In 1904, Samuel Maharero defied the Germans and led his people into battle. He called for a united resistance of all South West African communities against the Germans. Despite having an army of only 7,000 warriors, the Herero were able to use the element of surprise to score key victories early in the fighting; regaining control of much of central South West Africa. However, the tide of battle soon shifted as Germany flexed its military might, fortifying the region with seasoned, experienced soldiers.

The arrival of the more German colonial troops resulted in the infamous 'Extermination Order' during which 75% of the countries' Herero population perished and the survivors were scattered all over the country. A substantial number of Herero also fled to Botswana, where they became subsistence farmers growing grains and raising sheep, cattle and fowl. After Namibia's independence many Herero expressed their desire to return to their roots, the Botswana and Namibian governments stipulated though that any Hereros going back to Namibia had to leave behind their herds and possessions. Religion: The Hereros know a supreme being whom they call by two names: Ndjambi Karunga. The Karunga has an Ovambo derivation and is only known intimately to those Hereros, who have been in contact with the Ovambo in former times. Ndjambi is the Heavenly God. He lives in Heaven, yet is omnipresent. His most striking characteristic is kindness. Human life is due to and dependant on him and all blessings ultimately come from him. He who dies a natural death is carried away by Ndjambi. As his essence is kindness, people cherish no fear but a veneration for him.

As his blessings are the gifts of his kindness without any moral claims, the belief in Ndjambi has no moral strength, nor has the worship of Ndjambi become a cult. At best his name is invoked only in Thanksgiving after some unexpected luck or they pray to him when all other means of help fail. For the rest, the utterance of his name is not allowed. In reply to a question I put to a Tjimba woman in the Kaokoveld as to the abode of Ndjambi Karunga, she said: 'He stays in the clouds because, when the clouds rise, his voice is clearly heard,' and further research has brought to light that the Tjimba look upon Ndjambi as the giver of rain. (H. Vedder, The Native Tribes of South-West Africa, Cape Town, 1928, p.164) -Dr. Vedder's statement that the sacred name should not be uttered is significant. It explains partly, if not wholly, why the missionaries who had lived in close contact with the Herero since 1844, heard his name for the first time only in 1871.

In the Herero culture, cattle remain the most precious possession and the tribal hierarchy divides responsibilities for inheritance between matrilineal and patria-lineal lines of descent. The striking Herero Women's dress is derived from Victorian Era. German missionaries who encouraged the local women of the time to dress according to the fashion in Europe in those times. From the 1920's onwards the Herero have set up various chiefs' councils to safeguard their national identity, handle defence and manage tribal affairs. One of their chiefs was Hosea Katjikururume Kutako who became a national hero, as he petitioned to the United Nations in order to push forward Namibia's independence.

Question: Namibia, then known as South-West Africa, became a colony of which country in 1884?
Answer: Germany